At the Winter Cup (chapter)
is the seventy-ninth chapter of the Kuroko no Basuke manga. Summary Kiyoshi and Murasakibara played against each other in middle school. During the game, Murasakibara asked Kiyoshi if he liked basketball. Kiyoshi replied that there’s no way he can have fun when he’s losing so badly. Murasakibara thinks that he can’t understand why people play basketball if they are not good at it and lose so badly to him. Presently, Himuro tells Murasakibara that he’ll handle the offense while Murasakibara will take care of defense. Murasakibara agrees and tells Himuro to “do his best-whatever that means”. When one of the other players questions Himuro about this plan, Himuro responds that he alone can handle Seirin. Up against Kagami, Himuro uses such a beautiful technique that Kagami and everyone else are left speechless. Once he scores, Kiyoshi immediately tells Furihata to restart the game—they can’t stand in awe of his shot; they have to continue playing. Kagami gets the ball and charges in. Murasakibara thinks he’s a reckless idiot that can easily be crushed by him. Feeling his aura, Kagami realizes that Murasakibara is a dangerous player. Suddenly, it starts raining, and the game is halted. Tatsuya states it’s too bad, but they’ll have to save their match for later. Kagami insists that they can keep playing. Tatsuya replies that they shouldn’t because his senpai (Kiyoshi) may get injured again on the slippery court. Himuro also shows Kagami his new technique as something that Kagami can look forward to when they meet again. Kiyoshi adds that the next time they meet will be at the Winter Cup. There they can settle their score. This angers Murasakibara—he states that he crushed Kiyoshi so badly last time, but he still hasn’t learned his lesson. Finally, Murasakibara pats Kuroko on the head again as he says goodbye to him. Kuroko once again asks him to stop; he also questions Murasakibara if he still doesn’t like basketball. Murasakibara responds that if Kuroko keeps talking like that, he’ll crush him too. He states that it’s enough that he’s good and likes to win. He adds that he’ll listen to what Kuroko has to say at the Winter Cup. As they are drying off, Kagami receives a text message from Riko, telling them she wants to see them. They wonder what’s happening that she called them out of blue. Furthermore, Kagami states there seems to be some bad history between Kuroko and Murasakibara. Kuroko replies that it’s nothing like that at all. On the train ride back, Kuroko explains that he likes Murasakibara; they just have differences when it comes to basketball. Murasakibara started playing basketball in grade school; because he was tall, some kids invited him to play with them. Since he was naturally talented, he never started liking the sport before he started playing it. Therefore, he can’t understand other people’s passion for basketball. However, Kuroko states he loves to play basketball with Seirin; he also loves it that they love basketball as much as he does. When they arrive at the gym, a crying Momoi meets Kuroko. Characters in order of appearance *Teppei Kiyoshi *Atsushi Murasakibara *Tatsuya Himuro *Kagami Taiga *Tetsuya Kuroko *Hiroshi Fukuda *Kōki Furihata Matches featured *Seirin’s members vs. Murasakibara and Himuro’s “team” at a street ball tournament Techniques used *Tetsuya Kuroko’s Ignite Pass *Tatsuya Himuro’s condensed practice shot *Tatsuya Himuro’s Mirage Shot (unnamed at this point) Navigation